People recall the agony of Atomic bombing
BY AMBAR MAINALI
The Rising Nepal (Aug 7, 2001)
Hiroshima,Japan, Aug 6: People from all walks
of life gathered with a heavy heart at the
Peace Memorial Park today to pray for the
eternal peace of the victims of the first
atomic bombing in the history of mankind.
Elegant school children joined hands calling
for peace world over and denounced the use
of nuclear weapons as the pigeons released
flew over the Memorial Park packed with sixty
thousand people.
The representatives of bereaved families,
children, Mayor of Hiroshima together with
many others offered water collected from
16 different parts of the city to the victims.
The city today marked the 56th anniversary
of the atomic bombing which had killed nearly
two hundred thousand people. Nearly one hundred
and forty thousand were killed within five
months of the bombing and others who succumbed
to radiation perished in the years that followed.
The once devastated city now boasts of its
development attain ment prosperity and peace.
The United States of America dropped the
first atomic bomb on Hiroshima at 8:15 in
the morning of August 6,1945.
Another bomb was dropped at Nagasaki some
days later. Ever since the atomic bomb devastated
the city of Hiroshima and left people with
horrendous memories and bane of diseases
such as hair loss, bleeding, lower level
of blood cells and breast cancer, the people
there have been voicing their concern to
put an end to nuclear weapons.
Though at one time it was believed that natural
vegetation would never sprout again, no sooner
as the Phoenix trees started budding people
in Hiroshima were energized to work for world
peace and abolition of nuclear weapons. But
their voices remain to be heeded with nations
still carrying out additional nuclear tests
year after year.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who now
has a high popularity rating with his partyfs
landslide victory in the recently concluded
elections to the House of Councillors reiterated
Japanfs commitment to world peace and solidarity.
In an address to the Peace Memorial function,
Koizumi said, "Hiroshima was blown into
ashes 56 years ago and precious human lives
were lost."
He said ever since, the city has been striving
to propagate peace and has been developed
into a peace center.
"Japan has been voicing strongly for
the implementation of the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty (CTBT) at the UN forum,"
he said.
Koizumi appealed to the world leaders to
make a resolve to work towards attaining
eternal peace.
He expressed his commitment to extend extra
care and health facilities to the survivors
of the atomic bombing who are generally referred
to as Hibcusha.
A message from the UN Secretary General stated,
"Let us renew our solemn vow never to
repeat that tragedy."
The Peace Memorial Museum situated within
the premises of the park speaks volumes of
the miseries and agony the A-bomb victims
had to endure.
The exhibits at the museum echo the most
grisly moments in the history of mankind.
Hroshima, popularly known as the city of
castles was destroyed within no time after
the bombing. Prior to the bombing there were
four hundred thousand people living in the
city.
Documentation at the museum revealed that
a total of hundred and sixty thousand innocent
children were the victims of the atomic bombing.
Schools children walking around the museum
today bearing with the bitter history watched
the tattered clothes of boys and girls of
their age who never got to school on the
ill fated day of August 6, 1945.
Later in the afternoon, Akihiro Takahashi,
survivor of the atomic bombing said, "I
was fourteen and was at a playground 1.4
kilometers away from the hypocenter when
the bomb exploded."
Takahashi was addressing the fifth World
Conference of World Mayors for Peace through
Inter-City Solidarity. He said the A-bomb
had three characteristics heat rays, blast
and radiation.
"The heat generated at the hypocenter
was as high as 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Celsius."
Takahashi, who is still under regular medical
treatment said, such heat rays burned human
bodies, clothes and towns in an instant.
"It is reported that those who were
inside the hypocenter evaporated," he
said.
Recalling the inexplicable grief he said
the blast had blown people away tearing off
their skin. Eyeballs were torn away and internal
organs were ruptured by the effects of the
bomb.
"I do not particularly say that they
were killed by the United States but the
A-bomb killed them cruelly," Takahashi
said.